Stepped Chute Spillways

Stepped chute spillways are suited for service and auxiliary spillways. Stepped spillways refer to the stepped chute portion of the spillway and have primarily been used with roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dams, which take advantage of the RCC lift construction methods, resulting in offsets on the downstream dam face, creating the spillway steps. These steps can be formed or unformed RCC or capped with conventional concrete. A chute-type crest (flat), along with straight or curved ogee crests, are typically used in combination with stepped chutes. Other applications have involved incorporating both smooth flow surfaces and steps into a reinforced concrete spillway chute and RCC overtopping protection for an earth dam. A consideration for a stepped spillway involves the potential kinetic energy dissipation via the steps, which can reduce the size and type of the terminal structure. However, the kinetic energy dissipation potential may be reduced as flow depth (relative to the step size) increases (due to skimming flows). Also, consideration should be given to evaluating the cavitation potential. Examples of stepped spillways include the service spillway at Maricopa Water District’s Camp Dyer Diversion Dam (concrete), the auxiliary spillway (Joint Federal Project) at Reclamation’s Folsom Dam (composite), and the service spillway at Reclamation’s Upper Stillwater Dam (concrete). ^[1]